If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

21 March 2011 Last updated at 08:49 ET
US Army apology for photos of soldiers with Afghan body

The US Army has apologised for graphic photographs of US soldiers grinning over the corpses of Afghan civilians they had allegedly killed.
(Ever wonder why the world hates the U.S.? And this is the stuff that we actually KNOW about.)

The photos published by Germany's Der Spiegel magazine were said to be among many seized by US Army investigators.

An army statement said the photographs were "repugnant" but were already being used as evidence in a court martial.

Afghan civilian deaths at the hands of foreign forces is a highly sensitive issue in Afghanistan.

These photographs are purported to have been taken by a "rogue" US Army unit in Afghanistan in 2010.

Such images are only going to exacerbate tensions between the Afghan government and the people on the one hand and the US-led coalition on the other, says the BBC's Paul Wood in Kabul.
US court martial

It is unclear exactly when the photographs published were taken but Der Spiegel says they are among 4,000 pictures and pieces of video they have obtained.

Update March 20, 2011: A Coast Guard officer with a command center in Morgan City, LA, said today the Coast Guard has confirmed that oil is not coming from the Deepwater Horizon well but that they have found what appear to be smaller oil slicks in the Gulf.
(Just an oil slick out of the "blue" ocean, right?)

Their investigation into reports of large oil slicks is continuing. Additional photos and information from pilots John Wathen and Bonnie Schumaker who flew over the area yesterday are expected to be released today.

The Coast Guard is investigating reports of a potentially large oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico not far from the Deepwater Horizon site. According to a knowledgeable source, the slick was sighted by a helicopter pilot on Friday and is about 100 miles long. A fishing boat captain said he went through the slick yesterday and it was strong enough to make his eyes burn.

According to the Times Picayune, the Coast Guard has confirmed they are investigating a potentially large 100 mile slick about 30 miles offshore. They are going to a site near the Matterhorn well site about 20 miles north of the BP Deepwater Horizon site, according to the paper. The Matterhorn field includes includes a deepwater drilling platform owned by W&T Technology. It was acquired last year from TotalFinaElf E&P.

Independent pilots are attempting to reach the slick today. Bonnie Schumaker with Wings of Care reported she saw a slick two days ago and is attempting to reach the site.

Comment

Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) has panned President Obama's decision to participate in Saturday's missile attack on Libya, going so far as to question whether the strikes should be considered an "impeachable offense."

In a lengthy statement dated March 18 and re-printed in full on his website, Kucinich notes:

While the action is billed as protecting the civilians of Libya, a no-fly-zone begins with an attack on the air defenses of Libya and Qaddafi forces. It is an act of war. The president made statements which attempt to minimize U.S. action, but U.S. planes may drop U.S. bombs and U.S. missiles may be involved in striking another sovereign nation. War from the air is still war.

As Politico is reporting, Kucinich raised the prospect of impeachment during a Saturday conference call, and is just one member of a group of liberal House Democrats questioning the constitutionality of U.S. missile strikes against Libya. The congressman mainly objected to the fact that Congress was not consulted before the air strikes, Raw Story reports. In an interview, he told the site, "And I'm raising the question as to whether or not it's an impeachable offense. It would appear on its face to be an impeachable offense."

In his online statement, he added:

It is hard to imagine that Congress, during the current contentious debate over deficits and budget cutting, would agree to plunge America into still another war, especially since America will spend trillions in total for the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and incursions into Pakistan.

The last thing we need is to be embroiled in yet another intervention in another Muslim country. The American people have had enough. First it was Afghanistan, then Iraq. Then bombs began to fall in Pakistan, then Yemen, and soon it seems bombs could be falling in Libya. Our nation simply cannot afford another war, economically, diplomatically or spiritually.
(Hold somebody accountable and it won't happen again.)

As Kucinich reiterated Monday to MSNBC, "A decision was made to make American forces into a war [and] he didn't consult with Congress. What the consequences are politically, we'll see...but the fact is we're going to spend half a billion dollars in the first week on this war, we don't have the resources."

Concern over food contaminated by radiation from areas surrounding the troubled nuclear plant in ***ushima spread beyond Japan's borders Monday morning with world health officials warning of the potential dangers posed by the tainted food and one Japanese restaurant in Taiwan serving up radiation gauges alongside its meals.

World Health Organization officials told reporters Monday that Japan should act quickly to ban food sales from areas around the damaged nuclear plant, saying radiation in food is more dangerous than radioactive particles in the air because of accumulation in the human body.

"Walking outside for a day and eating food repeatedly are two different things. This is why they're going to have to take some decisions quickly in Japan to shut down and stop food being used completely from zones which they feel might be affected," WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said, according to the Associated Press.

Photos: Japan grapples with crisis

In a Q&A on its website, the organization advised that consuming food tainted with radioactive material, while indistinguishable to the naked eye, could lead to an increased likelihood of certain cancers. People living near the plant who may have consumed produce or animal products with radiation should seek medical attention, the organization said.

Japanese officials said over the weekend that higher-than-normal levels of radiation had been detected in milk, spinach and some water supplies from regions surrounding the nuclear plant damaged by the earthquake and tsunami. Officials have banned the sale of some food items at risk of contamination and advised residents of a village northeast of the plant not to drink tap water.

The spreading alarm has led to government officials and others in neighboring nations to increase scrutiny of produce coming from Japan.

Officials in China, South Korea and the Philippines have ordered the screening of imports from Japan for radiation contamination, according to news reports. China imported $593 million worth of agricultural products from Japan last year, according to the Chinese Xinhua News Agency.

One upscale Japanese restaurant in Taiwan is not taking any risks. An eatery called Peony in Taipei's business and financial district is offering a radiation gauge to its diners, Reuters reported.

"I can give my customers a promise: If you eat at Peony I guarantee that everything you get will be the safest and the best," manager Catherine Yang told Reuters.

In Japan, chief Cabinet spokesman Yukio Edano asked the public not to overreact to reports of food contamination, saying: "Even if you eat contaminated vegetables several times, it will not harm your health at all," Kyodo News Agency reported.

Edano said Tokyo Electric Power Co., which owns the ***ushima plant, would compensate farmers who are affected by the ban in food sales, according to Kyodo.

Comment

After panic buying, Chinese seek refunds on salt
Misguided shoppers cleared stores of the seasoning in the midst of a panic about radiation from Japan, some paying 10 times the normal prices. But few are allowed to return it for refunds.

By David Pierson, Los Angeles Times

March 22, 2011

The panic buying of salt that swept China last week amid fears of radiation from Japan has been replaced with a new frenzy: how to get a refund.

Many shoppers now reportedly feel buyers' remorse after realizing that there was no shortage of salt in China and that radiation from the crippled ***ushima Daiichi nuclear plant in northeastern Japan posed little threat to coastal sea salt deposits.

The hoarders are now lining up at grocery stores to ask for their money back, especially from shopkeepers who charged as much as 10 times the normal prices for the seasoning, according to Chinese news reports.

"I regret it very much. I will never behave this silly anymore," a woman who bought enough salt to last her four years told the West China City News in Nanjing. She was denied a refund.

A local television station in southern Yunnan province interviewed a farmer standing next to a 110-pound sack of salt he had bought that turned out not to be edible. It also wasn't returnable.

"I wouldn't need the [$75] back if I could eat it," the farmer said.

At a high-end Ole Supermarket in Hangzhou, a line formed for returns Saturday. Refunds were given for about 100 bags of salt and a bottle of soy sauce. Some buyers apparently resorted to soy sauce after stores ran out of salt.

There was no such luck for shoppers at mega-chains Wal-Mart and Carrefour.

"We can't offer refunds on food products," said a store employee at a Beijing Wal-Mart on Monday. She gave only her last name, Jin.

National sales of salt peaked Thursday at 370,000 tons, as many supermarkets were emptied of the product, according to the China Daily, a state-owned newspaper.

Comment

Western warplanes have flown more than 300 sorties over Libya in recent days and more than 162 Tomahawk cruise missiles have been fired.
(Imagine if this was WAR and not just enforcement of a "no fly" zone. Who else is on your Hitler Democracy List?
I always thought it was congress who was in charge of the military, not visa versa.)

After sunset on Tuesday, witnesses reported more anti-aircraft fire and the distant sound of explosions in Tripoli.

Comment

13 February 2011 Last updated at 20:14 ET
How revolutions happen: Patterns from Iran to Egypt

Revolutions can be short and bloody, or slow and peaceful. Each is different, though there are recurring patterns - including some that were on show in Egypt.

Trotsky once remarked that if poverty was the cause of revolutions, there would be revolutions all the time because most people in the world were poor. What is needed to turn a million people's grumbling discontent into a crowd on the streets is a spark to electrify them.

Violent death has been the most common catalyst for radicalising discontent in the revolutions of the last 30 years. Sometimes the spark is grisly, like the mass incineration of hundreds in an Iranian cinema in 1978 blamed on the Shah's secret police.

Sometimes the desperate act of a single suicidally inflammatory protester like vegetable salesman Mohammed Bouazizi in Tunisia, in December 2010, catches the imagination of a country.

Even rumours of brutality, such as the claims the Communist secret police had beaten two students to death in Prague in November, 1989, can fire up a public already deeply disillusioned with the system. Reports that Milosevic had had his predecessor, Ivan Stambolic, "disappeared" in the weeks before the Yugoslav presidential elections in 2000 helped to crystallise Serbian rejection of his regime.
Chinese template

Death - though in this case non-violent - also played a role in China in April 1989, when students in Beijing hijacked the officially-sponsored mourning for the former Communist leader, Hu Yaobang, to occupy Tiananmen Square and protest against the Party's corruption and dictatorship

The headquarters of the Egyptian State Security Services in Cairo is an impenetrable concrete fortress of thick walls and turrets, its main building menacing and imposing.

People used to be intimidated just walking past it, but the myth and mystery of the horrors committed within are now out in the open - the latest stage of Egypt's continuing revolution.

The army has tanks and armoured cars outside after taking custody of the building and the thousands of documents inside which many people believe will reveal the truth behind the activities of the state security service.

After driving out a president and a prime minister, the protesters who have spent much of the past six weeks out on the streets, have now turned their attention to the feared secret police.

Its buildings have been raided across the country and the main headquarters in Cairo's Nasr City was no exception.

The New Year's Day bombing outside a church in Egypt was officially blamed on "foreign hands" in the immediate aftermath of the attack.

Police now say they are looking at the possibility that home-grown extremists were involved - but many Coptic Christians already suspected it.

"I think those responsible are Egyptians but they are extremists, they are brain-washed," says Nadia Takla, a Christian visiting the injured in Alexandria.

Sectarian relations were frayed long before the blast that killed more than 20 people in Alexandria.

Tensions have been boiling and were due to spill over at any point ”

Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights

"All Christians expected something here in Egypt," says Ekramy Edward, a surgeon who operated on victims. "Every day we have troubles."

The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) has reported a recent rise in violent incidents involving Copts and Muslims.

It recorded 52 cases from 2008 to 2010. None of the perpetrators were brought to justice, it added.

"This [bombing] is different from other attacks we've seen, but I can't say we were entirely surprised," says Soha Abdulatty, a spokeswoman for EIPR.

Recent sectarian violence in Egypt
* January 2011: 21 people die in New Year attack at al-Qiddissin church in Alexandria
* November 2010: Two Christians die in Omrania in clashes with police over plans to build a church
* January 2010: Six Copts and Muslim guard die in drive-by shooting in Naga Hamady in the south
* November 2009: At least 10 houses burnt down during days of unrest in Farshout, southern Egypt, sparked by the alleged rape of a Muslim girl by a Coptic man
* May 2009: Clashes between Copts and police in Cairo over the cull of pigs
* April 2009: Two Christian men shot after an Easter vigil in southern Egypt over an alleged family vendetta
* April 2006: Days of clashes in Alexandria after a Copt is stabbed to death during attacks on three churches; Muslim man killed in unrest
* October 2005: Three killed during a riot outside St George's church in Alexandria after a protest against a play accused of offending Islam; nun survives stabbing
* February 2000: 20 Christians and one Muslim killed in Al-Kosheh, south of Cairo, in fighting between shopkeepers

Comment

Tuesday, Mar 22, 2011 21:01 ET
McCain was for Gadhafi before he was against him
WikiLeaks shows John McCain was strikingly friendly to the Libyan regime on a trip to Tripoli in 2009

War Room
Tuesday, Mar 22, 2011 21:01 ET
McCain was for Gadhafi before he was against him
WikiLeaks shows John McCain was strikingly friendly to the Libyan regime on a trip to Tripoli in 2009
By Justin Elliott

*

McCain was for Gadhafi before he was against him
AP/Manuel Balce Ceneta
Sens. John McCain, Joe Lieberman and Lindsey Graham

I noted earlier that Sen. John McCain has taken a strange position on the Libyan conflict: He's been calling for the ouster of Moammar Gadhafi not only on humanitarian grounds, but also because Gadhafi has "American blood on his hands" from the 1988 Lockerbie bombing. However, just 18 months ago, McCain himself traveled to Tripoli to talk to Gadhafi about a transfer of American military equipment. He also praised the "remarkable and positive turn" in U.S.-Libya relations.

It turns out one of the diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks describes in detail the friendly meeting between McCain and Gadhafi. It was also attended by fellow hawks Joe Lieberman and Lindsey Graham as well as Gadhafi's son, Muatassim. (See video of the meeting here.)

Keep in mind the context for the meeting was several years of increasingly warm relations between the U.S. and Libya. In the private talks, Muatassim Gadhafi "emphasized Libya's interest in the purchase of U.S. lethal and non-lethal military equipment." McCain was receptive to that request:

Muatassim requested the "highest level of help possible" to obtain military supplies, including mobile hospitals and uniforms. He also requested assistance with upgrading Libya's equipment, including helicopters. "We can get [equipment] from Russia or China, but we want to get it from you as a symbol of faith from the United States," he said. He described the security threats that Libya could possibly face as a result of its geography - "There are 60 million Algerians to the West, 80 million Egyptians to the East, we have Europe in front of us, and we face Sub-Saharan Africa with its problems to the South." ...

Senator McCain assured Muatassim that the United States wanted to provide Libya with the equipment it needs for its TRIPOLI 00000677 002.2 OF 002 security. He stated that he understood Libya's requests regarding the rehabilitation of its eight C130s (ref D) and pledged to see what he could do to move things forward in Congress. He encouraged Muatassim to keep in mind the long-term perspective of bilateral security engagement and to remember that small obstacles will emerge from time to time that can be overcome.

Comment

Wednesday, Mar 23, 2011 08:45 ET
Smiling soldier to plead guilty in Afghan murders
Soldier seen smiling next to Afghan corpse in controversial photograph will also testify against other defendants

A 22-year-old soldier accused of carrying out a brutal plot to murder Afghan civilians faces a court-martial Wednesday in a case that involves some of the most serious criminal allegations to arise from the U.S. war in Afghanistan.

Spc. Jeremy Morlock, of Wasilla, Alaska, has agreed to plead guilty to three counts of murder, one count of conspiracy to commit assault and battery, and one count of illegal drug use in exchange for a maximum sentence of 24 years, said Geoffrey Nathan, one of his lawyers.

His client is one of five soldiers from Joint Base Lewis-McChord's 5th Stryker Brigade charged in the killings of three unarmed Afghan men in Kandahar province in January, February and May 2010. Morlock is the first of the five men to be court-martialed -- which Nathan characterized as an advantage.

"The first up gets the best deal," he said by phone Tuesday, noting that even under the maximum sentence, Morlock would serve no more than eight years before becoming eligible for parole.

According to a copy of the plea agreement, which was obtained by The Associated Press, Morlock has agreed to testify against his co-defendants. In his plea deal, Morlock said he and others slaughtered the three civilians knowing that they were unarmed and posed no legitimate threat.

He also described taking a lead role in the January incident -- lobbing a grenade at the civilian while another soldier shot at him, and then lying about it to his squad leader.

The court-martial comes days after a German news organization, Der Spiegel, published three graphic photos showing Morlock and other soldiers posing with dead Afghans. One image features Morlock grinning as he lifts the head of a corpse by its hair.

Army officials had sought to strictly limit access to the photographs due to their sensitive nature. A spokesman for the magazine declined to say how it had obtained the pictures, citing the need to protect its sources.

Comment

Tuesday, Mar 22, 2011 10:03 ET
War Room
The first broken promise of the Libyan war?

This is what Adm. Mike Mullen said about Libya on "Face the Nation" Sunday morning:

And we expect, in a few days, to hand off command of this, leading it, if you will, to a coalition that will lead it over the longer term, and then, from the United States perspective, recede to a position of support.

Now this is what President Obama said in Chile Monday afternoon:

But let me emphasize that we anticipate this transition to take place in a matter of days and not a matter of weeks. And so I would expect that over the next several days we’ll have more information, and the Pentagon will be fully briefing the American people, as well as the press on that issue.

Meanwhile, NATO ambassadors are in the midst of intense arguments about who will take command, and when. The operation is being run by the U.S. Africa Command right now.

So we've already gone from "a few days" to "a matter of days and not a matter of weeks." We can argue about the definition of "a few," but it seems clear at this point there's not going to be any transfer of command even at the outer limits of the time period that word implies.

Finally, here's an exchange from midday Monday between a reporter and Bed Rhodes, deputy national security adviser for strategic communications:

MR. RHODES: We are going to transition this to an international coalition in terms of having the longer-term enforcement of a no-fly zone. Right now we’re in discussions with our partners about the nature of that transition, the nature of the command structure that will follow on from the actions that we’re undertaking right now. We anticipate, again, that that command structure will include our European allies and will take place, we’ve said, in a matter of days, not weeks. So I would stick to that timeframe. I mean --

Q A year is days.

MR. RHODES: What?

Q A year is made up of days. I mean, is there any --

MR. RHODES: No, well, I think the temporal point is, yes, this is not going to be a couple of weeks. This is going to be a period of days.

Q So sooner than weeks.

MR. RHODES: Yes, exactly.

So there you have it, the outer limit set by the administration for transfer of command is "a couple of weeks."

Comment

The commander of British aircraft operating over Libya has said that Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's air force "no longer exists as a fighting force".
(Ultimate no-fly enforcement. With no more air force fighting force, the no fly operation is DONE! Let's get outta here!)

Air Vice-Marshal Greg Bagwell said the allies could now operate "with near impunity" over the skies of Libya.
(Enforcing the no fly zone.)

He said they were now applying unrelenting pressure on the Libyan armed forces.

He was speaking during a visit to RAF aircrew based at Gioia del Colle in southern Italy.

"We are watching over the innocent people of Libya and ensuring that we protect them from attack" he said.

"We have the Libyan ground forces under constant observation and we attack them whenever they threaten civilians or attack population centres."

His comments come as Western leaders debate who leads the intervention, with the US keen to hand over to Nato.

Western aircraft have flown more than 300 sorties over Libya in recent days and more than 162 Tomahawk cruise missiles have been fired.
Snipers

Earlier, witnesses reported that international forces had launched new air strikes near Libya's rebel-held western city of Misrata.

Forces loyal to Col Gaddafi initially pulled back, but Misrata residents said snipers continued to target people from rooftops.

A Misrata resident told Reuters by telephone: "This morning, air strikes twice hit the airbase where Gaddafi's brigades are based.

"Two people were killed by snipers an hour ago in the centre of the town. Their bodies are now at the hospital, which I visited a while ago. Shooting is still going on there now."

A doctor in the city also told the BBC that snipers were continuing to shoot at civilians, and confirmed at least one person had been killed.

Click to play
Advertisement

Muammar Gaddafi appeared on Libyan TV making a defiant address to supporters

Witnesses said tanks pulled back from their positions, from where they have been spearheading a siege of the city for days.

Residents fleeing the town described shelling, gunfire and houses on fire.

Col Gaddafi's forces have also resumed their pounding of Zintan, near the Tunisian border, according to reports.

And there are also reports of fierce fighting between rebels and pro-Gaddafi forces in the strategic eastern town of Ajdabiya.

Late on Tuesday, Col Gaddafi made his first public appearance in a week and gave a short speech to a crowd of supporters in Tripoli.

Comment

23 March 2011 Last updated at 13:41 ET
'Serious' cyber attack on EU bodies before summit

The EU has reported a "serious" cyber attack on the Commission and External Action Service on the eve of a summit in Brussels, a spokesman told the BBC.

Crucial decisions on the future structure of the EU, economic strategy and the ongoing war in Libya are to be discussed at the two-day talks.

Details were not given but other sources compared the attack to a recent assault on France's finance ministry.

"We're often hit by cyber attacks but this is a big one," one source said.

The European Commission has been assessing the scale of the current threat and, in order to prevent the "disclosure of unauthorised information", has shut down external access to e-mail and the institutions' intranet.

Staff have been asked to change their passwords.
'Serious cyber attack'

"The Commission and External Advisory Service are subject to a serious cyber attack," Antony Gravili, spokesman for the security and information technology commissioner, told the BBC News website.

"We are already taking urgent measures to tackle this. An inquiry's been launched. This isn't unusual as the commission is frequently targeted."

Mr Gravili added that he had no information the attack had been linked to the EU summit.